THE GALLERY at NUASt Georges Street, Norwich NR3 1BB

To Wander, To LustRecent paintings by Alec Cumming, NUA Fine Art graduate

Tuesday 3 December - Saturday 11 January 2014Open Tuesday to Saturday 12pm - 5pm (closed Sunday & Monday) FREE ADMISSION

The Gallery at NUA will be closed Tuesday 24 December until Wednesday 1 January inclusive.

Upcoming shows in the Gallery at NUA

Concrete: Noah de Costa22 January - 1 March 2014

An exhibition of kaleidoscopic images of modern British Architecture by photographer and NUA alumni.

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The Gallery at Norwich University of the Arts presents a vibrant programme of exhibitions by internationally recognised artists, designers and media practitioners. Exhibitions are accompanied by seminars and lectures delivered by exhibitors, specialists and curators which enrich the experience of our students and public visitors alike.

If you would like to bring a group of visitors to the gallery, including schools visits, we may be able to arrange a tour of the exhibition or create an activity for your group. If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities or hiring the space, we offer a wide range of options to suit your requirements. For further information please email gallery@nua.ac.uk or call 01603 886385 visit www.nua.ac.uk/thegallery

The Gallery at NUASt Georges StreetNorwich NR3 1BB

Lunchtime Talks in the GalleryAs part of our Lunchtime Talks programme gallery staff present a short discussion about the exhibition. Free entry, no booking required.

Tuesday 3 December 2013 12.30pmThe Gallery at NUA

There is quite a big gap between urban Delhi and rural Norfolk, emotionally, environmentally, and culturally. While obviously different worlds, there are surprisingly strong cultural connections. Art 18/21 in Norwich has been blazing a trail for cultural exchange in the visual arts that acts as an example to the rest of the sector, introducing a host of Indian and UK artists to each other’s audiences for several years. This has included 2007 Fine Art graduate of Norwich University of the Arts, Alec Cumming. Cumming has seized and embraced that opportunity, using it as the inspiration for new creativity and beauty, resulting in Cumming’s first solo exhibition in India at the British Council Queen’s Gallery, Delhi.

Born in the UK in 1986, Alec Cumming was raised in East Anglia and started sketching and painting the local landscape from the age of ten, taking lessons from a local artist who taught him how to work with oil and canvas. He studied at City College Norwich where he took a Diploma in Fine Art followed by a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Norwich School of Art and Design, graduating in 2007. Always actively involved in Art School life, following two years as Student Union President at Norwich School of Art and Design, Cumming was a founding member of STEW artist studios in Norwich. Cumming currently works between studios in New Delhi and Norwich.

Represented by Art 18/21 since early 2009, Cumming has participated in numerous group shows around the UK, hanging work alongside artists such as John Hoyland, Maggi Hambling and Bruer Tidman. He has also held two solo shows in London.

In 2013 Cumming’s work was shown for the third consecutive year at the India Art fair in New Delhi. As for the future, shows in London, Singapore and New York are forthcoming.

The British Council aims to foster the exchange of cultural expression and ideas between people around the world. They encourage creative exchange and collaboration, and hope to promote a cultural inquisitiveness and intellectual curiosity about the wider world that looks beyond borders. It is this that really marks out Alec Cumming’s story; working from Neb Sarai for almost a year now, he embodies the possibilities of cultural exchange and his work is a reflection of the creative manifestation that the British Council is all about.

Cumming’s paintings are often described as abstract works by those at a loss of how else to explain them. The strange shapes and forms come together in a painting full of abstracted images that can suggest everyday objects, landscape, and figuration, among others, but this is the very thing that is to be enjoyed. It is the ambiguity and the vagueness of visual forms that allows the viewer the freedom to play with what they are seeing and enjoy the liberty of interpretation this brings.

Like his peers working in the heart of India’s pulsating Capital, Cumming sees himself not as a painter working in the tradition of British abstraction, nor as a painter dislocated from his roots from Norfolk in the East of England but simply as a contemporary artist who is part of the vibrant and living Delhi art scene.

Front Page: Bacha Brings It All, Above: Painting Amongst It, After the Re-Start, Making a Move, Alec Cumming.

Although his painting methods have not altered with his new location, the scale of Cumming’s paintings most definitely has. A change that has been brought about by opportunity and the ability to up his scale and work on increasingly larger canvases, his works have become more-and-more physically present, not only in terms of the painted surface but also in a new preference for large vertical formats. Cummings works directly onto the raw white canvas. The preparation of his paints is a contemplative affair. In warming up for the act of painting, he mixes his colours in the heap of empty coffee cups that fill his bench which serve as a reminder of the world and life that pulsates outside his studio space.

Following the success of his first solo show in New Delhi, the Gallery at NUA is very pleased to host To Wander, To Lust - a show that is a reflection of the artist’s dedication, hard work and love of his practice. It is to be followed by his forthcoming solo show in New York.